Whimsical Academy discussion

Ollie “Short for Olivae” Jackson liked their job. They did. But if one more customer came in and tried to persuade them into letting them go without paying, they were going to scream. They hurried up the stairs of their apartment complex clad in their veterinarian scrubs, moving right past the big white sign on the elevator doors with bright red letters on it saying “OUT OF ORDER” for only, oh, maybe the 3rd time this month?

Going up through 7 floors to 802 was exhausting (to say the least), and seemed nothing short of horrible when a 21-year-old Ollie first moved to the Big Apple, hoping to start their dream of becoming a big author like all of their idols. 5 years later though and now it was just routine; something Ollie did without thinking about.

Reaching down into their navy blue back pocket, they fiddled for the keys to their apartment and opened the door. It closed with a quiet click behind them as they kicked their shoes off, flopping down onto their couch as their bag fell onto the floor next to it.

Sometimes they wished that they stayed in Phoenix, Arizona with their family where they wouldn’t have to just go through the motions as a vet who had just gotten their residency, when their dream was something so completely different. When they moved with wide starry-eyed eyes and a suitcase or two they had no idea that this is what they’d have become; an insomniac who's gone through at least a hundred tubs of peanut butter and pathetically failed at doing the one thing that they’ve always wanted to do in life.

They had managed to cope with an 80's playlist they had put together with their father over many long road trips when the radio was playing too many pop songs, and peppermint tea made straight from the kettle he had insisted they take. Something to go to when they ran through the peanut butter too quick and needed something to remind themself of home.

Looking across the dark living room at the black leather jacket hanging from the coat rack they asked themself if it was worth it. To leave their gray-haired father alone in the old but wonderfully familiar house in suburbs. 26 years of life and travel, and it remained of the only places Ollie had seen where the trees still grew and the tall grass hadn’t been cut. For it was always their dear old dad’s motto that to cut down nature that wasn’t hurting you was a disservice to Mother Earth.

Of course, Ollie would always roll their eyes when he’d say that but they wondered what he’d say now that they lived in a concrete jungle alone, a big hulking figure who curled in on themselves in public because these confident people who went out and chased their dreams, even with their accents and funny way of speaking were exactly what Ollie had craved to become, and that scared them so much.

They remembered the moment in their life when everything changed, the exact turning point that had led them to their current state of reality. It was junior year and everyone in their life was pressuring them to choose a path, but even though it just seemed so easy when they talked about it before in middle school in passing conversation, the time came and they didn’t even have an inkling of what they wanted their life to become.

They had curled up in a ball on their bed, trying to block the world out when their dad came in, a jar of peanut butter as his peace offering tucked under his arm as he approached, closing the door quietly behind him and leaving the lights off. As was to be expected of a teenager in the middle of a meltdown, Ollie appreciated the edginess of a dark room to bundle themself up and cry in.

It took quite a few minutes, but he had managed to coax them out from their nest of fluffy blankets, persuading them to sit up and take a spoon so they could begin shoveling peanut butter down their throat. “What do you want to become?” He had asked after a moment of trying to figure out what he should say to his child, and it’s funny isn’t it? How difficult it is to know what you want after your whole life spent knowing yourself, your whole life with dreams and thoughts that don’t seem to really be what you want when the time comes to choose.

A year ago and Ollie wouldn’t have even had to think about it, the obvious answer being “”

Lost in their depressing thoughts and a wave of homesickness that they felt themselves drowning in, they hauled themself up and shuffled on over to the warm brown wood cabinets in their kitchen. They grabbed a spoon and their trusty tub of you-know-what-at-this-point, pulling off the lid of it and setting it on the table. They sat back onto the worn couch and grabbed their emergency fluffy blanket hidden behind it, wrapping it around themselves as they took out their phone and immediately dialed the number, waiting through the ringing sounds until he picked up, their voice cracking slightly when they started to speak. “Hey dad. I miss you.”